Sign up to receive free email alerts when patent applications with chosen keywords are publishedSIGN UP

Abstract:

A system, method, and computer-readable storage device for sending a
spoken message as a text message. The method includes initiating a
connection with a first subscriber, receiving from the first subscriber a
spoken message and spoken disambiguating information associated with at
least one recipient address. The method further includes converting the
spoken message to text via an audible text center subsystem (ATCS), and
delivering the text to the recipient address. The method can also include
verifying a subscription status of the first subscriber, or delivering
the text to the recipient address based on retrieved preferences of the
first subscriber. The preferences can be retrieved from a consolidated
network repository or embedded within the spoken message. Text and the
spoken message can be delivered to the same or different recipient
addresses. The method can include updating recipient addresses based on a
received oral command from the first subscriber.

Claims:

1. A method comprising: receiving, from a subscriber, a spoken message to
a recipient; receiving, from the subscriber, spoken disambiguating
information indicating how to deliver the spoken message to the
recipient; converting, via a processor, the spoken message to text;
determining a recipient address associated with the recipient based on
the spoken disambiguating information; and communicating the text to the
recipient address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying a subscription
status of the subscriber.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: retrieving preferences of
the subscriber; and communicating the text to the recipient address based
on the preferences.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the preferences are retrieved from a
consolidated network repository.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the spoken message is converted to text
via an audible text center subsystem.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the spoken
message to the recipient address.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the recipient
address based on an oral command from the subscriber.

8. A system comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage
medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor,
result in the processor performing operations comprising: receiving, from
a subscriber, a spoken message to a recipient; receiving, from the
subscriber, spoken disambiguating information indicating how to deliver
the spoken message to the recipient; converting the spoken message to
text; determining a recipient address associated with the recipient based
on the spoken disambiguating information; and communicating the text to
the recipient address.

9. The system of claim 8, the computer-readable storage medium having
additional instructions stored which result in the operations further
comprising verifying a subscription status of the subscriber.

10. The system of claim 8, the computer-readable storage medium having
additional instructions stored which result in the operations further
comprising: retrieving preferences of the subscriber; and communicating
the text to the recipient address based on the preferences.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the preferences are retrieved from a
consolidated network repository.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the spoken message is converted to
text via an audible text center subsystem.

13. The system of claim 8, the computer-readable storage medium having
additional instructions stored which result in the operations further
comprising communicating the spoken message to the recipient address.

14. The system of claim 8, the computer-readable storage medium having
additional instructions stored which result in the operations further
comprising updating the recipient address based on an oral command from
the subscriber.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which,
when executed by a computing device, result in the computing device
performing operations comprising: receiving, from a subscriber, a spoken
message to a recipient; receiving, from the subscriber, spoken
disambiguating information indicating how to deliver the spoken message
to the recipient; converting the spoken message to text; determining a
recipient address associated with the recipient based on the spoken
disambiguating information; and communicating the text to the recipient
address.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the
computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored
which result in the operations further comprising verifying a
subscription status of the subscriber.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the
computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored
which result in the operations further comprising: retrieving preferences
of the subscriber; and communicating the text to the recipient address
based on the preferences.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the
preferences are retrieved from a consolidated network repository.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the
computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored
which result in the operations further comprising communicating the
spoken message to the recipient address.

Description:

PRIOIRITY INFORMATION

[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/638,583, filed Dec. 15, 2009, the contents of
which is disclosed herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

[0002] 1. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to text messages and more
specifically to a way to initiate and intercept text messages and send
converted messages to subscribers in a speech format.

[0004] 2. Introduction

[0005] Text messages, otherwise known as Short Message Service (SMS),
began in 1992-93 as a way to send messages from a computer to a phone,
and shortly thereafter allowed phone to phone messages. Because of its
simplicity, text messages have become the most used cellular phone
service after actual voice services. However, one large drawback with
text messaging is that it typically occupies one or both hands and at
least partially distracts the subscriber's eyes. In every day use, this
is not very problematic, but when the subscriber is driving a vehicle or
performing other attention intensive activities, typing a text message
can be extremely dangerous. Text messaging while driving is often
compared to drunk driving in terms of danger to self and others on the
road. An increasing number of states have made texting while driving an
illegal activity, punishable by a ticket and/or fine. Some solutions in
the market today inhibit subscribers from sending or receiving a text
message while driving a car, such as with GPS-enabled speed detection.
However, these approaches to block SMS functionality have flaws because a
detected moving speed does not accurately indicate whether a subscriber
is a passenger or a driver of a car, or whether the subscriber is a
passenger on a bus or a train. Current solutions either have serious
flaws or do not allow subscribers to communicate via SMS safely while
driving.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and
other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more
particular description of the principles briefly described above will be
rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are
illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings
depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore
to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principles herein are
described and explained with additional specificity and detail through
the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

[0013] Instead of forcing SMS subscribers to stop using this very useful
service, SMS communications should be safe to use while driving. The
approach disclosed herein allows the millions of handsets already in use
to safely send and/or receive text messages in such situations. A
telecommunications provider can offer this safe SMS service for free as a
public service or for a fee.

[0015] In an ATCS-based telecommunications network, the ATCS intercepts
transmitted text messages and plays them back to a recipient upon
request. When a recipient receives a text message while driving or in
other situations when he or she does not want to or cannot take attention
away from what he or she is doing, he or she can either push a button,
issue a voice command, make a gesture, or provide other input to initiate
the retrieval of text message in voice format (similar to voice mail) or
use the same interface to send a text message without taking the
attention from the road. This option can also be helpful for handicapped
or elderly citizens who are unable to easily use a small mobile keyboard
to text or who cannot easily read the small mobile display.

[0016] An ATCS can easily be integrated into existing telecommunications
platforms, including the 3GPP network. Further, this approach operates
without updating or changing existing handsets. Although a telephone
manufacturer, mobile device operating systems developer, and/or a
telecommunications provider could provide much more sophisticated
customized widgets and applications to add value to this service and make
it more accessible on newer mobile devices, a basic solution also works
with all legacy handsets, potentially providing an immediate benefit to
all telecommunications subscribers.

[0017] Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail
below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be
understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A person
skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and
configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of
the disclosure.

[0018] With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 includes a
general-purpose computing device 100, including a processing unit (CPU or
processor) 120 and a system bus 110 that couples various system
components including the system memory 130 such as read only memory (ROM)
140 and random access memory (RAM) 150 to the processor 120. These and
other modules can be configured to control the processor 120 to perform
various actions. Other system memory 130 may be available for use as
well. It can be appreciated that the disclosure may operate on a
computing device 100 with more than one processor 120 or on a group or
cluster of computing devices networked together to provide greater
processing capability. The processor 120 can include any general purpose
processor and a hardware module or software module, such as module 1 162,
module 2 164, and module 3 166 stored in storage device 160, configured
to control the processor 120 as well as a special-purpose processor where
software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design.
The processor 120 may essentially be a completely self-contained
computing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory
controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric or
asymmetric.

[0019] The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structures
including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a
local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basic
input/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basic
routine that helps to transfer information between elements within the
computing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100
further includes storage devices 160 such as a hard disk drive, a
magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. The
storage device 160 can include software modules 162, 164, 166 for
controlling the processor 120. Other hardware or software modules are
contemplated. The storage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110
by a drive interface. The drives and the associated computer readable
storage media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable
instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the
computing device 100. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a
particular function includes the software component stored in a tangible
and/or intangible computer-readable medium in connection with the
necessary hardware components, such as the processor 120, bus 110,
display 170, and so forth, to carry out the function. The basic
components are known to those of skill in the art and appropriate
variations are contemplated depending on the type of device, such as
whether the device 100 is a small, handheld computing device, a desktop
computer, or a computer server.

[0020] Although the exemplary embodiment described herein employs the hard
disk 160, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other
types of computer readable media which can store data that are accessible
by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital
versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) 150, read only
memory (ROM) 140, a cable or wireless signal containing a bit stream and
the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment.
Tangible computer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as
energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

[0021] To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an input
device 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as a
microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical
input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. The input
device 190 may be used by the presenter to indicate the beginning of a
speech search query. An output device 170 can also be one or more of a
number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some
instances, multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types of
input to communicate with the computing device 100. The communications
interface 180 generally governs and manages the user input and system
output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware
arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily be
substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are
developed.

[0022] For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment is
presented as including individual functional blocks including functional
blocks labeled as a "processor" or processor 120. The functions these
blocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared or
dedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable of
executing software and hardware, such as a processor 120, that is
purpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on a
general purpose processor. For example the functions of one or more
processors presented in FIG. 1 may be provided by a single shared
processor or multiple processors. (Use of the term "processor" should not
be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing
software.) Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/or
digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 140 for
storing software performing the operations discussed below, and random
access memory (RAM) 150 for storing results. Very large scale integration
(VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSI circuitry in
combination with a general purpose DSP circuit, may also be provided.

[0023] The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented
as: (1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or
procedures running on a programmable circuit within a general use
computer, (2) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or
procedures running on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)
interconnected machine modules or program engines within the programmable
circuits. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 can practice all or part of the
recited methods, can be a part of the recited systems, and/or can operate
according to instructions in the recited tangible computer-readable
storage media. Generally speaking, such logical operations can be
implemented as modules configured to control the processor 120 to perform
particular functions according to the programming of the module. For
example, FIG. 1 illustrates three modules Mod1 162, Mod2 164 and Mod3 166
which are modules configured to control the processor 120. These modules
may be stored on the storage device 160 and loaded into RAM 150 or memory
130 at runtime or may be stored as would be known in the art in other
computer-readable memory locations.

[0024] Having disclosed some basic system components, the disclosure now
turns to the exemplary method embodiment shown in FIG. 2. For the sake of
clarity, the method is discussed in terms of an exemplary system such as
is shown in FIG. 1 configured to practice the method.

[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method embodiment for sending a
spoken message as a text message. A system 100 practicing the method
initiates a connection with a first subscriber (202). The system 100 can
verify a subscription status of the first subscriber, to ensure that the
first subscriber is allowed to send text messages, to establish a billing
rate for converting a spoken message to a text or SMS message, and/or
other purposes. In some cases, the system can retrieve delivery
preferences of the first subscriber and deliver the text to the recipient
address based on the retrieved preferences. For example, the first
subscriber can establish a preference for transmitting spoken messages to
a particular recipient via email during working hours and as an SMS after
working hours. A consolidated network repository (CNR) can store such
preferences. In some cases, the first subscriber embeds per-message
preferences within the spoken message as oral instructions to the system.
For example, the first subscriber can say "text this to John . . . " or
"text this to Mary, email this to Jane, and send both a text and an email
to George." The system 100 can retrieve these preferences and implement
the delivery accordingly.

[0026] The system 100 receives from the first subscriber a spoken message
and spoken information associated with at least one recipient address
(204). The spoken information associated with at least one address can be
a name in an address book, a phone number, email address, nickname, a
name of a list of multiple addresses, and so forth. The system 100 can
provide a spoken disambiguation dialog with the first subscriber. In one
aspect, the system 100 delivers the text message to the recipient address
based on delivery mode input from the first subscriber.

[0027] The system converts the spoken message to text via an audible text
center subsystem (ATCS) (206). The ATCS can include a media converter
module and a media storage module. In one aspect, the ATCS is a network
element that makes it possible to convert text to speech and vice versa.
This element can be a stand-alone platform or co-exist with a Short
Message Service Center (SMSC), Visual VoiceMail (VVM), or other
platforms. ATCS can consist of two main elements: a media converter and
media storage. The media converter converts incoming text from the SMSC
to speech and also converts the voice/speech from ATCS's voice storage
center into text. The media storage stores the voice files generated by
MCF and plays back the file to the recipient and also receives voice file
from the subscriber and pushes it to the MCF for conversion and
forwarding to SMSC for delivery as an SMS message to text recipient
subscriber.

[0028] The system 100 then delivers the text to the recipient address
(208). The system 100 can deliver both the spoken message and the text to
the recipient address. In some cases, the system can also deliver the
text via more than one method, such as email, SMS, Tweet, or other
suitable text delivery methods. The system 100 can update recipient
addresses based on received oral commands from the first subscriber. For
example, the user can say, "Send this message to Suzie, but to her new
phone number, not her old phone number." The system 100 can recognize the
speech, look up Suzie's old number, and determine if she has a new mobile
number, for example. In other aspects, the user specifies the new address
(such as a new email address). In this way, the system converts the first
subscriber's voice message to text via the ATCS, and notifies the
recipient of the converted message in any of a number of delivery
methods.

[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates an example system configuration 300 for sending
a text message as a voice message. A user 302 enters a text message using
a keypad on a mobile device or other text entry mechanism, and submits
the text message to a mobile switching center (MSC) 308 in a
telecommunications network 304 for delivery to a recipient 306. The MSC
308 retrieves the user's profile from a consolidated network repository
(CNR) 310 which includes the user's SMS possibilities, such as optional
subscriber preferences on receiving voice text or regular text messages.
This can be set as voice text message as a default option 1, and option 2
can be receiving a regular text message. Option 1 can also be triggered
by a location-based service which can detect the subscriber's status with
help of a built-in GPS in a mobile device and send the voice text as an
override option or even send both text and voice text simultaneously. In
that case, the recipient can select how to retrieve and/or store the
message.

[0030] The CNR 310 returns all or part of the profile to the MSC 308,
which forwards the SMS message based on the profile settings. For
example, if option 1 (or the default option) is set, the MSC 308 can
transfer the text message to the ATCS 312, which converts the text
message to speech via a media converter 316 and stores the message (in
speech and/or text form) via a media storage module 314. The ATCS 312
forwards a notification of the stored message to the short message
service center (SMSC) 318, which can notify the recipient 306 of the
speech converted from text in a similar manner as a regular voice mail
notification. Upon request from the recipient, the SMSC 318 transfers the
message to MSC 320 for delivery to the recipient 306 via a mobile handset
or other telecommunications device. The recipient can request delivery
via a Bluetooth interface, pushing an assigned button, making a
touchscreen gesture, voice command, or by providing any other appropriate
input. If option 2 is set, the MSC 308 transfers the text message
directly to the SMSC 318 or to another destination, such as an email or
HTTP server.

[0031] FIG. 4 illustrates an example system configuration 400 for
receiving a text message. This system 100 can send an SMS without
actually the user 402 typing the message. This approach can be useful
when, for example, the user is driving and wants to send a text message.
First, the user 402 initiates the connection with the MSC 408 to send a
message to the recipient 406. The MSC 408 checks with a CNR 410 for
subscription and/or permissions for that service. The CNR 410 confirms
the subscription status of the user 402 and replies with appropriate
options from a user profile. The MSC 408 sets up a connection to ATCS 414
through an SMSC 412. The ATSC 414 gathers the initial data from the user
402, including the user's phone number, actual message, and other
metadata describing the message and/or the user 402. The MSF 418 forwards
the stored voice message according to queuing and other parameters to MCF
416. The MCF 416 and MSF 418 convert and store the voice message to a
text or SMS message and forward it to SMSC 412. The SMSC 412 treats this
message as any other text message and sends it to MSC 420 for delivery to
the recipient 406.

[0032] In one aspect, the recipient 406 has the option of replying to the
message. The recipient 406 can initiate a reply message through an
appropriate interface such as Bluetooth, pushing a button, etc. The
recipient 406 can reply via text message, a spoken message converted to
text, voicemail, a phone call, email, or other communication vehicles.

[0033] FIG. 5 illustrates an example method embodiment for converting text
messages to voice. A system configured to practice the method receives a
text message, a recipient address associated with the text message, and
subscriber preferences associated with the recipient (502). The system
100 can receive the text message from a first mobile switching center.
The system 100 converts the text message to speech based on the
subscriber preferences (504). The system 100 can retrieve subscriber
preferences from one or both of a sender and a recipient. The system 100
stores the speech (506) in text and/or speech form. The system 100
receives a request from the recipient to retrieve the stored speech
(508). The recipient can send the request in the same way as checking
voicemail, for example. A more sophisticated software application can run
on a smartphone allowing the user to browse through messages and select
them for retrieval in a similar way as visual voicemail, for example. The
system 100 transmits the stored speech to a messaging device of the
recipient (510). The system 100 can further transmit a notification of
the stored speech to the messaging device of the recipient in a similar
manner to a voice mail notification. The system 100 can transmit the
notification through a Short Message Service center.

[0034] FIG. 6 illustrates an example method embodiment for receiving a
text message as a voice message. A system 100 configured to practice the
method receives a notification of an incoming voice message intended for
a recipient (602), the voice message being converted from a text message
by a converter system performing steps (604)-(614). A converter system
first receives a text message from a sender (604) and retrieves a profile
associated with the recipient from a consolidated network repository
(CNR) (606). The user input can be received through a secondary
communications device. In one aspect, converted text messages can be
received through a non-mobile device, such as a land-line telephone. The
profile can include recipient preferences for receiving voice text or a
regular text message, as well as a default delivery address and other
delivery addresses. The preferences can indicate a voice text message as
a default setting, for example.

[0035] The converter system forwards the text message to a short message
service center (SMSC) based on the profile (608) which can then forward
the text message to an audible text center subsystem (ATCS) (610). A
media converter in the ATCS converts the text message to speech (612) and
stores the converted text message in a media storage module (614). At
this point, the system 100 can display a notification to the recipient
(616). The notification can be multimodal, meaning that more than one
output method is used, such as a vibration in combination with a sound,
or an LED notification with an automated speech message. The system 100
then receives input from the user to retrieve the incoming voice message
(618) and retrieves and outputs the voice message to the user (620). In
this way, the system converts the text message entered by the sender to a
voice message retrievable by a recipient in the same manner as a
voicemail. The system 100 can output the text message and the voice
message to the recipient simultaneously. In one aspect, retrieving the
voice message occurs before receiving input from the user to retrieve the
voice message. The recipient can reply to the retrieved message via
email, regular voicemail, voicemail converted to text, text message, or a
return phone call.

[0036] Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may also
include tangible computer-readable storage media for carrying or having
computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such
computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can be
accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer, including the
functional design of any special purpose processor as discussed above. By
way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can
include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic
disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which
can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of
computer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chip
design. When information is transferred or provided over a network or
another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or
combination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views the
connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is
properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above
should also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

[0037] Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions
and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose
computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain
function or group of functions. Computer-executable instructions also
include program modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or
network environments. Generally, program modules include routines,
programs, components, data structures, objects, and the functions
inherent in the design of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform
particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, and program
modules represent examples of the program code means for executing steps
of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such
executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples
of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such
steps.

[0038] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of
the disclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with
many types of computer system configurations, including personal
computers, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems,
microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,
minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments may also be
practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed
by local and remote processing devices that are linked (either by
hardwired links, wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through a
communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program
modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

[0039] The various embodiments described above are provided by way of
illustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of the
disclosure. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize various
modifications and changes that may be made to the principles described
herein without following the example embodiments and applications
illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the spirit
and scope of the disclosure.